April 2008
Child Recruitment by Sri Lankan Rebel Group Drops
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported a significant drop in the recorded cases of child recruitment by the rebel group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka. In 2004, UNICEF recorded 1,099 cases of LTTE child recruitment. In 2007, that number dropped to 166, and of those, most took place in the first few months of the year. While these figures undoubtedly understate the problem because not all cases are reported, they show a very positive trend.
Human Rights Watch, working with our allies, has played an important role in maintaining pressure on the LTTE to stop using children as soldiers. We used our research and evidence of LTTE child recruitment to generate pressure among the Tamil diaspora, especially in Toronto and London, which provides much of the LTTE’s financial support. Our work helped influence Canada to list the LTTE as a “terrorist organization,” prohibiting Canadians from funding the group. We also pressed the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on the LTTE. The latest reduction in child recruitment coincides with a warning from the Security Council that it would consider such a move if the LTTE did not show concrete progress in ending its use of child soldiers.
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Lebanon Releases Jailed Iraqi Refugees
As a result of joint advocacy by Human Rights Watch, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and local NGOs, Lebanese authorities in late February began releasing Iraqi refugees from detention, where they were held indefinitely until they were willing to “voluntarily” choose to return to Iraq. So far, 79 Iraqis have been released and more are expected to be released in the coming weeks. Human Rights Watch issued a report in December 2007 documenting the Lebanese government’s failure to provide legal status for Iraqi refugees in Lebanon. Lebanese authorities have treated Iraqis as illegal immigrants regardless of their intent to seek asylum, and consequently arrested them. Iraqi detainees told Human Rights Watch how they were held in overcrowded cells together with suspected criminals. Human Rights Watch continues to monitor the situation of Iraqi refugees and to advocate for the regularization of their status in Lebanon.
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European Court of Human Rights Upholds Torture Ban
In a landmark ruling issued on February 28 in the case of Saadi v. Italy, the European Court of Human Rights reaffirmed the absolute ban on sending people to countries where they risk torture and ill-treatment. Nassim Saadi, a Tunisian national legally residing in Italy, was previously convicted in his absence by a Tunisian military court for membership in a terrorist organization. When Italy ordered Mr. Saadi’s deportation, he lodged an appeal in the European Court of Human Rights arguing that he would be at risk of torture if returned to his home country. The Italian government, backed by the UK, argued that any risk to Mr. Saadi should be balanced against the threat he posed to national security, an argument the court soundly rejected.
Specifically referring to research by Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations detailing the practice of torture in police custody in Tunisia, the court concluded that the “diplomatic assurances” of humane treatment provided by the Tunisian government were insufficient in the face of documented reports of prisoner abuse in Tunisia. Last year, Human Rights Watch called on Italy to halt its efforts to deport Mr. Saadi to Tunisia. Human Rights Watch has strongly criticized the increasing use of “diplomatic assurances” against torture as an ineffective safeguard against such abuse.
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Iranian Woman Sentenced to Stoning is Freed
On March 18, Iranian officials pardoned and released Mokarrameh Ebrahimi after 11 years in prison awaiting execution. A 43-year-old mother of three, Ms. Ebrahimi and Jafar Kiani, Ebrahimi’s partner and the father of two of her children, were convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning. Despite a stay of execution from Iran’s top Judiciary official, authorities stoned Mr. Kiani to death on July 5, 2007. Human Rights Watch, concerned that Ms. Ebrahimi would face the same fate, issued a letter to the head of the Iranian judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi, urging prompt action to prevent the stoning of Ms. Ebrahimi and calling on Iranian authorities to permanently remove stoning as a form of punishment in the country’s Islamic Penal Code. Iranian officials eventually freed Ms. Ebrahimi along with her son and she returned to her family in northern Iran. While the reasons for her release are unclear, it appears that the attention generated by human rights groups played an important part.
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Bangladesh Acts to Prevent Extrajudicial Killings
Following a year-long investigation by Human Rights Watch and an aggressive advocacy campaign by international and local human rights groups, Bangladesh’s interim government in January issued instructions to all law enforcement agencies to prevent the death of criminal suspects in their custody. The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Bangladesh’s elite anti-crime and anti-terrorism security force, has a record of extrajudicial killings and deaths resulting from torturing suspects. The RAB often attributes these deaths to incidents of “crossfire” that occur in the course of confronting criminal suspects, and reports indicate that, to date, 472 people in Bangladesh have been killed by RAB forces due to so-called “crossfire.” In response to the interim government’s directive, the RAB leadership appears to have taken measures to reduce the incidence of extrajudicial killings, and it reported for the first time since its inception that there were zero incidents of “crossfire” in the month of February 2008. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly called on Bangladeshi officials to stop these killings.
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UK Must Not Remain Complicit in Persecution of Gay Iranians
Writing in the Guardian Unlimited, Scott Long, Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program, calls on the UK government to recognize that a law prescribing death or torture for gay Iranians is sufficient grounds for asylum, without need of further proof of persecution.
US Should Rethink Counterterrorism Strategy in Somalia
Jennifer Daskal, Senior Counterterrorism Counsel, and Leslie Lefkow, Senior Africa Researcher, write in the Los Angeles Times that an effective counter-terrorism policy in Somalia must address the underlying human rights and humanitarian tragedies that are fueling the crisis.
World Leaders Must Not Forget Burma
UN Advocacy Director Steve Crawshaw in the Guardian Unlimited calls on powerful players at the UN Security Council to impose sanctions, travel bans, and other measures to press the Burmese generals to cease their repressive rule.
Lebanese Women Should Act in Solidarity with Their Migrant SistersWriting in
As-Safir, the largest daily newspaper in Lebanon, on International Women’s Day, Women’s Rights Researcher Nisha Varia calls on Lebanese women to value the work done by female migrant domestic workers and to support their right to equal protection under Lebanese labor law.
